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NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
Even during the holidays, Rory McIlroy couldn’t get away from gear talk.
“All I heard about at Christmas dinner from my dad was this AutoFlex golf shaft,” McIlroy said before the Waste Management Phoenix Open. “All I heard was my dad saying, ‘Can you get me one of these? Everyone is hitting it 20 yards longer.’ ”
So when McIlroy was paired recently with Adam Scott – who just debuted the shaft from little-known South Korean manufacturer Dumina two weeks ago at the Farmers Insurance Open – his Christmas dinner conversation was the first thing he mentioned to the Australian.
While McIlroy tested an AutoFlex shaft owned by a Seminole member and didn’t take a liking to it, Scott used it to get into contention at Torrey Pines where he finished tied for 10th. Two weeks before last year’s Masters, Scott’s team reached out to purchase a few AutoFlex shafts for Phil Scott, Adam’s father. However, the younger Scott had already gotten his hands on two of the company’s shafts and settled on the 57-gram SF505 XX. There is little information on the shaft other than it being incredibly lightweight and producing a massive whip effect that generates more speed at impact. McIlroy, for one, said “I felt if I swung hard I was going to break it. I felt like it was going to snap.”
With a price tag of $790, breaking one would not be ideal.
Scott recently has been keen on driver shaft testing, having used a 46-inch Fujikura Ventus Red on his way to leading the Houston Open in driving distance last fall. Scott saw increased clubhead speed at the Farmers Insurance Open but also only hit 43 percent of his fairways.
“If Adam has a chance, we hope he considers trying the swing weight at D1 or even D0, to further stabilize the clubhead on the downswing,” an AutoFlex Instagram post said. “The lighter swing weight should also help to increase clubhead speed and add more distance, while maintaining the face more square on impact.”
Paul Casey is also feeling reinvigorated with his driver play, but for different reasons. The equipment free agent who won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic switched to a Titleist TSi3 driver and a TSi2 fairway wood at the American Express and had lofty praise for his new clubs.
“I don’t often talk about equipment, but I put a Titleist driver in the bag,” Casey said. “I feel like I’m driving the golf ball like I did when I was playing my best golf, when I was No. 3 in the world or whatever, and I feel like this rejuvenation.”
The TSi3 has serious momentum in the pro game. Patrick Reed used one to win at Torrey Pines and 13 other equipment free agents in that field had a TSi3 in the bag.
FootJoy won the shoe count at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with 54 percent, bettering their closest competition by 37 percent. They also won the glove count with 36 percent of the field using FootJoy gloves.
Sean Fairholm